Phnom Penh’s best vegetarian and vegan-friendly restaurants

I often get asked if it’s easy to be vegetarian in Cambodia. In Phnom Penh, the answer is yes! The city feels like a foodie paradise as so many different restaurants and cuisines have popped up in recent years. Here’s a roundup of the best vegetarian and vegan-friendly restaurants in Phnom Penh. This list is by no means comprehensive, and I’m always discovering new favorites. So feel free to comment below with your favorite veg spot, and I’ll add it to the list!

Don’t worry, there are a plethora of vegetarian and vegan options in Phnom Penh

BKK Neighborhood

Vitking House 1*

Vitking House’s all-vegetarian menu focuses on Khmer food, often incorporating meat substitutes made from soy or other veggie alternatives. With two locations in Phnom Penh (see ‘Vitking House 3’ below, in the Russian Market section) and two in Siem Reap, the growing chain has become popular with both locals and foreigners. Most dishes are $2-4, making it one of the better bargains for vegetarians.

Vego Salad Bar

With its create-your-own style menu, Cambodian-owned Vego Salad Bar allows you to work around any dietary restrictions, and choose from a wide variety of ingredients. Or forgo veggies and choose to make your own fruit salad.

Cafe Soleil*

This Cambodian-owned vegetarian restaurant has a relaxed, no-frills backpacker vibe, with a shelf of books and magazines to peruse while you sit. It offers a wide selection of Khmer and American-style vegetarian dishes, many of which are vegan. It’s also one of the cheaper options for vegetarian food in Phnom Penh, with many dishes between $2 and $4.

Farm to Table has a small garden, full-size tractor, and lots of veggie and vegan options.

Farm to Table

The large outdoor seating area, complete with a small garden, full-size tractor, and chickens running around definitely provides a unique vibe within Phnom Penh. The menu offers many vegetarian and vegan options, including a vegan cheesecake to enjoy after your meal (or before — life is short!). Farm to Table is a sister restaurant to Artillery Cafe and hosts a monthly farmer’s market, “Mindful Market.”

Java Cafe

With its extensive menu Java has some of the best vegetarian options of any coffee shop in Phnom Penh, including salads, sandwiches, and a veggie burger (mushroom patty). Many of the veggie options include cheese or yogurt sauce, but can easily be ordered dairy-free. The walls of Java showcase rotating art exhibits and the cafe hosts art, music, and literary events.

Botanico’s relaxing beer garden is an oasis from the hustle & bustle of Phnom Penh.

Botanico

It’s not always easy to find veg-friendly ‘bar food’ to pair with a cold brew. Luckily, Botanico’s small food menu includes multiple veggie options, including a Mediterranean plate (hummus, olives, and pita) and falafel ‘slider’ burgers. The relaxing beer garden setting surrounded by greenery makes this a good stop when you need a quick break from the busy city.

There’s no shortage of delicious Indian restaurants in Phnom Penh, many of which have vegetarian and vegan options. Here are a few of my favorites in BKK:

Coriander Vegetarian Restaurant

While its name can be misleading because the menu does include some meat dishes, Coriander is one of the most veg-friendly Indian restaurants in Phnom Penh. Most options are under $5 and portions are big enough for two, especially if you add naan or a starter.

Open daily, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
21Eo, Street 71
T: 088 996 9651

Dosa Corner

Dosa Corner is one of the best options in Phnom Penh for good, inexpensive Indian food, and offers numerous vegetarian and vegan options. As its name suggests, the menu revolves around the south Indian dosa, a super thin pancake made of fermented rice and urad beans (black lentils). The menu includes a wide selection of sides to pair with your dosa, including biryanis and curries.

Namaste India (formerly Madras India)

Located on the lively, expat-favorite Street 308, Madras offers Indian and Nepalese cuisine. Its air-conditioned interior (with delicious smells wafting from the kitchen) is a great place to unwind after a long day or before a night out on the town. Most veggie options are $4 or under, and portions are generous. Try the vegetable biryani.

Riverside neighborhood

The Corn

The Corn is great if you want to try some traditional Khmer dishes meat-free. Nearly all main courses are vegan with the option to add chicken, fish, or prawn for an additional cost. They make a great vegetarian ‘amok,’ a traditional Cambodian dish that is usually made with fish. In addition to beer and wine, they also offer some original cocktails.

PHOTO
The Corn’s entrance, an alley off the north end of Independence Monument Park, will make you feel like you discovered Phnom Penh’s best kept vegetarian secret

The Vegetarian*

As the name suggests, the entire menu at The Vegetarian is meat-free. In a quiet, tree-filled setting just north of Independence Monument Park, they also offer a wide variety of smoothies and fruit juices. Many of the dishes include soy or other meat alternatives.

Besto Indian*

Besto is a vegetarian and vegan Indian restaurant. In addition to a wide variety of Indian food, their menu offers an array of Western food including veggie burgers and a vegetarian hot dog. Also open for breakfast.

Backyard Cafe is hip and healthy, with lots of vegan and vegetarian options.

Backyard Cafe

The food & decor of this cafe near the Royal Palace invoke the feel of many hip, health food cafes you’d find in Western cities. In addition to many vegan options, Backyard’s menu includes gluten-free and raw food. They also sell food and body products to take home.

Friends Restaurant

Friends is a social enterprise training restaurant with profits supporting Friends International’s social programs. The menu offers numerous vegetarian Western and Asian tapas and full courses. The gift shop next door also supports Friends International.

Romdeng Restaurant

A sister restaurant of Friends and also operating as a social enterprise, Romdeng is located in an old colonial building with a large patio and plenty of greenery. Their menu includes a “For the Veggie Lover” section and a small gift shop also supports their social programs.

Vegetarian Buffet*

Easy to miss if you don’t notice “Vegetarian” written on the awning, this small Cambodian restaurant offers a buffet of all-vegetarian foods. You may need to speak Khmer to inquire which dishes are vegan or about other dietary restrictions, but the prices can’t be beat. (See our guide to ordering vegetarian food in Khmer)

Street 51 & Street 208 (Just northeast of the intersection)

Artillery’s health food and arts cafe is located down the grafitti-adorned alley way, dubbed ‘240½’

Artillery

Artillery cafe focuses on providing options for a range of “healthy lifestyles” including vegan, vegetarian, paleo, gluten-free, and raw. They offer an extensive drink menu including cold-pressed juices, smoothies, tea, and coffee. The walls feature local artwork and you can find locally handcrafted (food and non-food) products for purchase.

Russian Market neighborhood

Master Ruma*

A new addition to the Russian Market neighborhood, Master Ruma is an all-vegetarian restaurant, though they offer many dishes with meat alternatives. The menu focuses on Asian fare and most main dishes are under $3, making it a great bargain. The decor and bookshelves pay tribute to yoga and mindfulness.

Sumatra

One of the best options in Russian Market for an inexpensive, delicious, and filling meal is Sumatra Indonesian restaurant. They offer numerous vegetable, tofu, and tempeh dishes and the prices are hard to beat. Try the cassava tempeh or the tofu gado gado.

Lot 369

This vegetarian, vegan, and carnivore-friendly cafe serves up salads, sandwiches, breakfast, and tapas in a cozy, open-air space adorned with greenery. Recently added indoor and air-conditioned seating can be found on the second level. The drink menu focuses on coffee, tea, and probiotic drinks. The vegan breakfast bowl is one of the best savory vegan breakfasts in town.

Alma Cafe

Finding good meat and dairy-free Mexican food isn’t always easy, but Alma offers delicious vegetarian tacos or burritos. They come with cheese and sour cream, but with the fresh veggies, homemade salsa, and black beans, they are just as tasty ordered sans dairy. The margaritas are also excellent.

Buffalo Sister

Buffalo Sister’s menu is meat-heavy and they are known for their weekly Sunday Roast dinner, but they have one of the best vegetarian salads in town. I usually only finish half of their heaping falafel salad and get a second meal out of the other half. They have a few other vegetarian salads and sandwiches, but I’ve yet to deviate from the falafel salad.

Eleven One Kitchen

Eleven One Kitchen has a separate vegetarian section of their menu and serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner (no vegan breakfast options, though). They offer a wide variety of Asian and Western foods at good prices. The vegetarian curry and tofu mushroom amok are both excellent.

The Snacker*

This local ice cream stand sells fresh, non-dairy ice cream made from coconut and/or local fruit (it is also gluten free). Traditional flavors include chocolate, vanilla, and coconut, while more creative offerings include soursop, red dragonfruit, and durian.

Sesame Noodle Bar

This small Asian fusion restaurant offers some of the best noodles in Phnom Penh. The customizable menu allows you to choose yellow egg, green veggie, or glass noodles and top them with pork or tofu. The vegetarian small plates include tofu steak, tofu and kimchi, carrot salad, and — my favorite — vegetable gyoza (dumplings). The tart hibiscus iced tea really hits the spot on hot days.

Long After Dark

If you like your vegetarian fare with a side of scotch, Long After Dark is the place for you. The menu denotes vegan options, which include burgers, pasta, and appetizers. My favorites are the veggie burger or the pan-fried sesame seed tofu with lemon zest dressing. With bookshelves full of whiskey/scotch and tunes spinning from vinyl records, the ambiance isn’t bad either.

Vitking House 3*

Tummy Filler Cafe and Pub

Tummy Filler is a Cambodian-owned restaurant providing Cambodian and Western favorites. The vegetarian offerings includes spring rolls, salads, sandwiches, and Asian dishes (they recently added numerous veggie options which aren’t yet up on their website menu). The full bar also serves a wide selection of wines and cocktails.

7 Responses to Phnom Penh’s best vegetarian and vegan-friendly restaurants

Just checked with them and The Snacker ice cream is not dairy free even though they advertise it like this. They add “a little condensed milk and fresh milk” for the consistency. So, not vegan or suitable for anyone with a dairy allergy.

Oh, and this might be the most obvious tip imaginable to some, but if you want a meal that consists almost exclusively of fresh and raw vegetables in large quantity, there’s always Fatboy Subs on 130. A vegetarian footlong sub is $5.50 and they’ll load whatever you ask for onto it. They bake their own bread fresh every day, too. It’s simple fare but extremely satisfying. It’s like Subway, but not gross. And as a bonus, they have never hired a monstrous pedophile as their spokesperson and my prediction is that they never will – it’s right there in the name. Fat Boy. It’s not about weight loss so they don’t need any Jared’s darkening their doo. Though it’s true that the vegetarian sub is potentially very healthy (less so if you load it up with cheese or mayonnaise or olive oil etc but still.)

Taste Budz Indian restaurant on 282 is just a block away from Dosa Corner and it has better dosas by far. Like, no comparison. Taste Budz dosas are bigger, filled up thicker, just better. All of their food is better than Dosa Corner’s, honestly. And I’d say the same for the Nepali place next door to it on 282 and for Mt Everest a couple more blocks down 51, and Angkor India which is on 278 and is owned by Sher-e-Punjab – they are also much better, as is Flavors of India on 63 and 278 a few more blocks down. Within 5 minutes walk of Dosa Corner there are a lot of Indian restaurants with tons of vegetarian options (like always) that are much better than Dosa Corner. I don’t get the appeal of that place. Bad service, mediocre food at best, cramped environs, no ambience. Just because it exists and you can find it easily there on 51 does not make it good. A version of that statement should be made into a universal disclaimner on Trip Advisor. Just because you ate there, that doesn’t make it good.

PS: I’ve been a vegetarian for like 25 years and I think I had more trouble finding stuff to eat in America than I have for the past 5 years in PP. Every restaurant that caters to foreigners at all will have something on the menu that is suitable. Quite often they’ll have many things, in fact. Traditional Khmer type places? Maybe not unless you can get them to do a special order for you.

I’d say going to specialist veggie restaurants are a much safer bet if you’re not of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” variety of vegetarian. Fish sauce, oyster sauce, chicken powder, etc. are used in many, if not all, entirely vegetable dishes at Khmer restaurants.

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